A small group of us had
lead a young couple to the Lord. Some time later they wandered into
a certain church in the city, where they were told to “come out
from among them (namely us) and be separate" (2 Corinthians 6:17). I
only wish I had told them first to come out from that church and be
separate from them! I am joking of course. The verse was being
taken totally out of context which is about not being yoked
together with unbelievers (verse 14). This of course speaks of not
being in partnership, marriage etc. with unbelievers. It is not
talking about separation of believers from believers. This church
was operating out of a spirit of denominationalism.
By denominationalism,
I am talking about the emphasizing of denominational differences to
the point of being narrowly exclusive. The church in question knew
nothing about us. They knew only that we were not part of their
fellowship, and that apparently was enough. I need to quickely
distinguish between denominationalism and simply belonging to a
denomination. It's the attitude and the narrowness that's the
problem. Actually you can belong to a non-denominational church and
still be into denominationalism. In fact I attended such a church for
a while before I saw it. Some (not all) of the leadership
condemned all denominations. They used “each of you says, “I am
of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” ….
(1 Corinthians 1:12), interpreting this to mean “thou shalt not
take a name for your church or denomination.” But they totally
missed the spirit of what Paul was saying. He was speaking against the contentious use of the taking of a name (verse 11). And in
missing this, they were (at least some of them) becoming contentious
in promoting (and feeling self righteous about) their “no-name” product (denomination).
Please note, that I am
not saying that truth is not important. But I have the sense that
the Lord is grieved when we over-emphasize denominational
distinctives using them as a reason to "refrain from embracing." It's much wider
than the church of course, and is part of any “ism”
(i.e absolutism, Marxism etc.). One of the characteristics, is
the pressure to conform. We see this in politics when you cannot even belong to the party if you don't adhere to certain dogmas of policy, and/or
morality. Unfortunately we also see it in the church. It stifles
discussion, facilitates an “us and them” mentality, and confuses unity with
uniformity. It disallows questions and discourages thinking (loving God
with all our mind). In fact it leaves the sheep defenseless and open to being deceived “with
persuasive words” (Colossians 2:4). I have witnessed this over
and over at the University where “arguments that exalt themselves
against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5) are presented as
truth by highly articulate and confident sounding professors. But what is the
alternative to camping around precise doctrinal positions? Well,
while certainly not neglecting truth, we might want to camp around
mothers and fathers in relationship, in Christ. More to come!
Father, nobody is
saying that it's easy to hold walking in the truth, and walking in
love in tension. You tell us as much as possible to live
at peace with all. We are to contend for the faith, but not to do it in a
contentious way (Jude 3; 1 Corinthians 1:11). We need Your help here
Lord, and so I ask for it again this morning, in Jesus Name Amen
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